Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT)

The Kentucky Children’s Hospital Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) provides palliative care services for both the children with a serious illness and their families. Palliative care focuses on improving quality of life and relieving symptoms for patients with serious illnesses. Patients can continue to receive care that will cure their illness and extend their life at the same time they are using palliative care services.

About

Our team

Contact us

Our PACT service consists of physicians, a registered nurse, nurse practitioner and a social worker. We share resources with the broader UK HealthCare system including chaplains, child life, bereavement, nutrition and ethics. We offer consults for patients at the request of the patient, family or health care provider.

What we do

The goals of PACT include:

Assisting families with decision -making and goals of care.

Relieving pain and other symptoms.

Promoting communication with families.

Facilitating continuity during multiple admissions.

Providing emotional, social, spiritual and bereavement services.

Improving end-of-life care for children in the hospital or at home.

How we work

When the patient, family or health care team requests a PACT consult, our team will meet with the family and the health care providers. We ask the family members about their goals and wishes and also about their worries and concerns. We determine how the PACT services can help them meet their goals, and we make recommendations to the health care team.

What we provide

Good communication with the family and the health care team.

Inpatient visits with the child and family.

Recommendations for pain and symptom management.

Assistance for families making difficult decisions about their child.

Support during transition from the hospital to home, or to a hospice or other facility.

Follow-up communication and support after discharge.

Palliative care

If a palliative care consult is needed, please notify a member of your primary care team. We are available Monday through Friday., between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 859-323-3459.